Tramway trolley pole



Feb. 16 19 26. 1,573,001

M. HENDERSON TRAMWAY TRQLLEY POLE Filed March 29, 1924 L 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Feb. 16,1926. 1 1,573,001

M. HENDERSON TRAMWAY TROLLEY POLE Filed March 29. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2777. Nz/nc/l/wm mventor 22 wan/my CM To all whom it may concern:

Patented Feb. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

MATTHEW Hmvnnnsoiv, or AUoKLAnn, NEwzEA ANn.

rRAMwAY- TROLLEY POLE.

Application filed March 29, 1924. Serial No. 702,932.

Be it known that MATTHEW HENDERSON,

a subject of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding'at Selwyn Street, Onehunga, in the city of Auckland, ProvincialDistrict of Auckland, Dominion of New Zealand, has invented certain newand useful Improve ments in or Relating to Tramway Trolley Poles, ofwhich the following is a specifica tion. This invention relates toimprovements in connection with the trolley poles of electric trams andlike 7 vehicles which are worked on the overhead system, and hasparticular reference to that kind of mechanism which automaticallyrelieves the tension from the trolley pole should the trolley,

"from any cause, jump off the overhead wire.

' The particular improvement The objectof my invention is to preventdamageand delay to the service when the trolley leaves the overheadwire, the momentum with which the pole is jerked upwardsbeing suflicientto break down the support- "ingwires above or cause a'jamming ofthetrolley amongst same;

aimed at in 'i my invention is to provide a simple automatic releaseofthe pole from themainten- "sion spring or springs, when the trolleyleaves the overhead wire, and allow thetro1- ley and pole to fallbygravity and without .The inventlon Wlll be further illustrated withreference to the accompanying drawings, Where' Y a i Figure 1 shows aside elevation of the mechanism in working position on the overheadwire.

Figure 2 is a plan of same. 7

Figure 3 1s a partial side elevation showing'the crosshead in section online AB Figure 4 is an end elevation of Figure 1.

' Figure 5 is a side elevation showing the i ings, thetensionon thetrolley pole is efffected by the spring 1, the lower end of the 'trolley pole being connected to a stirrup recess;

" piece 4 which is fulcrumed at 11- to the swivellin'g' base. 5, thelatter being pivoted on the standard 6 which is secured to the roof ofthecar.

This is a similarconstruction to that at present in use, the upwardtension of the trolley pole on to the wire being maintained by means ofone or more springs transmitting their tension through a pair of tensionrods operating on pivot pins fixed to the stirrup piece, the tensionspringsur rounding an extending arm secured to the swivel base, a stopnut or nuts being fixed at the outer ends of the arm to limit the travelupwards of the pole when the trolley leaves the overhead wire. 1

The improvement in my invention con sists in means whereby these tensionrods are automaticallydisconnected from the sliding plate or crossheadiiponwhich the ten- -sion springs bear when the trolley leaves theoverhead conductor, after which the pole and trolley are free to fall bygravitya sufficient distance to clear the overhead' wires and preventdamage byqamming or' foul- 111g Sit/I118.

A further improvement provides for taking up the recoil after thetrolley pole has fallen clear of the overhead wire and with meanswhereby the apparatus can bereset to the working positionby theconductor or motor-man in charge.

To accomplish this, the tension rods 10 are pivotally connected to pins12 projecting from the sides or cheeks of the stirrup piece .1-. Theother ends of the tension rods are screwed and nutted at 13 so asto'transfer the tension from the sliding crosshead 8,

which latter has two slots 14 in the underside for the reception of theboltslO.

The slots 14 terminate in countersunk recesses 15, one of the nuts 13having a projection thereon to seat into the A pair of bell crank shapedlevers 16 are keyed or otherwise securely connected one at each side tothe fulcrum pin 11, the upper ends of the levers being stayed togetheras'an integral unit. to prevent distortion. This maybe done by asuitable distance piece which. is here shown as a bolt 17 shouldered,screwed and nutted at both ends onto the bellcrank levers.- Instead ofkeying the levers 16 to the pin 11 they could, if preferred, be formedintegral with the stirrup. piece 4. The pin 12 transfers motion from 4to 16,

A pair of recoil rods 19 are pivotally connected at one end as shown at20 to the bell crank levers. The forward ends of the recoil rods arepassed through holes 21 in the sliding crosshead 8, the ends beingscrewed and having a pair of nuts 22 fitted thereto at a suitable--distance from the ends so that when the trolley pole falls to "the re-I coil position as shown byFigure 3, these I recoil position.

nutstransmit the weight and shock from the falling pole to the maintension spring 1, preventing the pole falling beyond the \Vhen thetrolley pole in its normal V from the sudden compression of the spring1, but this is prevented by fitting a bracket 23 to the tension rods 10so that when the spring 1 is compressed by the falling of the pole, thebuffer piece 26 secured to the bracket 23 falls on to the arm 9 betweenthe end face of the nut 27 andjthe sliding crosshead 8. H i L Thebracket 23 withstop piece 26 attached thereto. may be made of anysuitable 1 shape and secured by convenient means to the tension rods.

ings herewith shows 23. formed 'to a U shape, the. lower endsbeingsecured to the tension rods 10 by nuts 24 at each side. The

top of the U. piece is. bent overat 25 at right angles carrying thebuffer 26 as shown. \Vhen the trolley poleuisin its working p05 sitionas shown in Figure l, the buffer 26 wards with considerable force, andwhen the crosshead 8 strikes the face of the stop nut '27 ontheextending arm 9, the tension rods 10 are released from theslots 14.

This is ,accomplished bythe upward mo mentumof the trolley pole 2 aftercrosshead 8 strikes the nut 27 which releases the countersunk nuts13from the recesses 15, allowing the rods 10 to fall by gravity,

'' when the buffer 26 falls on the outer periphery'of the nutf27untilthe' pole 2 reaches the recoilposition shown in Figure 3, when:coilaspreviously described.

' it falls in between 8 and 27 to prevent re-i' The lower arms of thebell crank levers 16 have resetting pins 30 fitted thereto, so that whenthe trolley pole is pulled down approximately to a horizontal positionas shown in Figure 5, the pins 30 lift the ten sion rods 10 up into theslots and the countersunk seats in the crosshead 8 to their normalworking position, when the trolley can be reset on to the wire 3 in theordinary manner.

The'action of resetting the tension rods in their seats will be betterunderstood by reference to Figure 3, when it will be readily seen thaton pulling the pole further down so as to reinstate rodsQlO by liftingpins 30, the travel ofcrossliead; 8 is more rapid than the travel ofnuts 13, which facilitates the insertion'of the latter into the recesses15.

The pins 30 are preferably shouldered, screwed and nutted to secure tothe lower arm 29 of the bell crank lever 16, and to facilitateadjustment, the extending portion 30 could be turned eccentric with theshouldered and screwed portion which fits through the hole in the-arm29. I

The crosshead 8 is prevented :'['ro1n turning on the extending arm 9byia' feather key 82 fitting in the'crosshead 8 sliding in the keyway31.. f I

The recoil rods 19 can have 'a knuckle joint 38 fitted in a suitableposition as shown to convert reciprocating motionat the crosshead endinto partial rotary motion at the bell cranklever end.

Iclaimr e 1. A trolley. pole safetylrelease for electric trams andthelike, 'consistin'g, in combination with the usual tension springsandI r trolley pole, of a stirrup piece fu'lcr'umed to The arrangement asshown on the drawa revoluble base pivoted to an upright column, of 'apair of tension'rods to holdfthe ,pole on the overhead'wire, the 'rod'seach having one end pivoted to the stirrup piece at the foot of the poleand the othen'end detachablyfixed tothe s'liding'cros'sheadby nuts onthe rods, one of the 'saidfnuts on each rod having a conical shapedprojection thereon to seat in 'a'recess' atthe endof the .slots in thecrossh'ead so that when the trolley leaves the wire and 'the pole isjerkedupwards, it is released from tension andv allowed tofall clear ofthe overhead wire by'releasing the tension rods from the crossheadimmediately the tension spring strikes the stop nut onthe end of thespring arm, substantially as described and as shown in the drawings. e2. In a trolley pole safety. appliance, a pair of bell crank leverswhich may be-separate from or integral with a stirrup piece, but pivotedto the fulcrum pinbf the pole, a distance piece holding together theupper ends of the arms of the levers, a pair of resetting pins fixed toand: projecting from short arms of the levers, a pair of recoil rodspivoted atone end to the bell crank levers and to a knuckle joint nearthe'crosshead at the other ,end, 'the ro'ds being'connutted on the outerends to facilitate adjustment for transferring the weight of the fallingpole on to the 'main spring sub stantially as described and as shown onthe drawings.

3. In a trolley pole safety appliance a recoil buifer hanging from abracket secured to the tension rods so that when the latter are releasedfrom the tension of the spring, the buffer is free to fall. on to thestop nut at the end of the spring arm, af ter which it falls in betweenthe crosshead and the stop nut when the spring is compressed by thefalling pole to the recoil position substantially as described and asshown on the drawings.

4:. The combination in a safety trolley pole release of the variousparts as claimed in claim 1, all working together to produce anautomatic release of the tension rods when the trolley leaves theoverhead wire, means for arresting the fall of the pole and preventingrecoil of same with facility for resetting the tension rods to theworking position again all substantially as shown and described withreference to the accompany-V ing drawings.

5. The combination in asafety trolley pole release of the various partsas claimed in claim 2, all working together to produce an automaticrelease of the tension rods when the trolley leaves the overhead wire,means for arresting the tail of the'pole and preventing recoil of thesame with facility of-resetting the tension rods to the working positionagain.

6. The combination with a safety trolley pole release of the Variousparts as claimed in claim 3, all working together to produce anautomatic release of the tension rods when the trolley leaves theoverhead wire, of means for arresting the tail of the pole andpreventing recoil of the same with facility for resetting the tensionrods to the working position again.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MATTHEWV HENDERSON.

